Category: WordPress Training Manual

In an earlier article, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.

If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes WordPress themes unique, then go here to read the article: An Introduction to WordPress Themes

In this article, you will learn where you can browse hundreds of free and paid themes for your WordPress website. You will also learn about the different types of WordPress theme resources and get tips on how to ensure that you get the right themes for your needs and avoid dealing with problems like lack of customer support and poorly-coded themes.

As explained in another article, a theme is a special kind of web template that is used on WordPress-powered websites and blogs and designed to work specifically for WordPress.

Many website designers and website development agencies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WP community enjoy access to thousands of quality themes covering an extensive range of uses and applications.

Finding WordPress Themes: Let’s Simplify Things!

Let’s say you were to browse over to Google and type the following:

• best free WP themes
• best paid themes for WordPress
• best responsive WordPress themes for authors (or whatever your business, search topic or blog is about)

You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in your search results.

So, to help you save time and make your life easier, we’ll just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WP themes really simple.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes

Before we start, you should know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in another article. To keep things simple, let’s just be covering the topic of finding themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this post, as these give you more freedom, more options and more control over your web design.

Free vs Paid WordPress Themes

Next, it’s important to know that there are both Free and Paid themes made available. Free themes for WordPress are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be listed as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.

WordPress Theme Marketplaces vs Theme Developers

There are 2 kinds of places where you can find WordPress themes. The first place is in theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent theme vendors.

WP theme marketplaces and theme directories are big aggregators of themes. WordPress theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and visitors shop for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.

Some of the bigger marketplaces don’t just sell WordPress themes. They can also sell WordPress plugins and templates for other web applications (e.g. Joomla, Drupal, etc.)

Commercial and independent WordPress theme agencies typically will design both free and commercial themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme developer or a small team of designer, to large web and theme design and development companies.

As you will see, most commercial theme design firms sell their themes exclusively on their own web sites, but some will also list their themes in marketplaces and directories, or even create a free or “lite” version of their themes for free directories .

Let’s now show you where to find great WordPress themes for your website.

Where To Find The Best Responsive WordPress Themes For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – Free WP Theme Directory)

The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to download free WP themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free directory you should use when looking for free WordPress themes. The reason for this, is because –as many free software users have discovered– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can contain malicious code and put your computer, digital presence … even your entire business at risk.

The WordPress.org directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website, but it also uses a review team to review and ensure that each theme listed in the directory complies with their quality and security standards.

To browse thousands of excellent FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Directory, go here:

http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes

Find Free WP Themes Inside Your Own WordPress Dashboard

Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WordPress theme in the WordPress directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and activate it directly from within your WP admin panel with just a couple of clicks.

Use WordPress Theme Filters

WordPress has a built-in filtering function inside the admin area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colors, Layout and Features …

This makes it easy to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly pink colour design, with a 2-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

Note: in another article where we discuss the importance of using “responsive” themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will display without problems on all devices (e.g. your laptop, smartphone and tablet) …

It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering function lets you search across its entire database of free themes …

… and find only WordPress themes that are “responsive” …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free WP themes is that it costs you nothing to download and use the theme on your site. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and come with a number of built-in customizable options, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.

The downside of using free themes are that your themes may not get updated as often with new features and bug fixes, and it’s unrealistic to expect the developer to provide immediate support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many freely distributed themes will ask you for a donation to help cover their support costs.

When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been more than a year since any updates were last made, then we advise you to think carefully about downloading it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.

If you’re just getting started and your site is still quite new, there is nothing wrong with using a free theme until you have a better idea of the kind of site design that would work best for your site before spending any money on premium themes or even on custom theme design. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free could be exactly what works for your site and your business.

Now that we’ve seen how to find free WordPress themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and ways to filter your search for themes that meet specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to finding premium themes.

Premium WordPress Themes

If you are looking for themes with stunning design, or professional quality yet highly affordable WordPress web design themes with a distinctive look, unique customizable options and responsive support, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:

Theme Marketplaces And Directories

ThemeForest

ThemeForest is one of the biggest and best-known WordPress theme directories online.

ThemeForest allows many professional WordPress theme designers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 17,000 premium WP themes to choose from (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …

(click on the above images to browse all themes on ThemeForest)

If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific themes in various categories, such as:

• Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and administration sites, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for government sites and advertising purposes.
• Creative – themes suitable for video galleries, writing professionals, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites related to employment opportunities, buy & sell, , etc.
• eCommerce – themes for online shopping, event bookings and registrations, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for music and bands blogs, music venues, etc.
• Mobile – e.g. responsive themes.
• NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, churches, etc.
• Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. commercial property, etc.)
• Retail – themes for stores, trades or professionals (repairers, medical practitioners, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to technology, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and romance tips and advice blogs
• Miscellaneous – themes suitable for topics related to activism, parenting sites or blogs … even themes you can use if your site is still under-construction!

When you purchase WordPress themes from ThemeForest, you will receive email notifications when a new update is available for your theme …

(ThemeForest emails you theme update notifications)

Go here to find great themes in the ThemeForest theme marketplace:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

(click on the above images to view more themes on Creative Market)

Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme marketplace where you can browse thousands of quality premium themes from independent theme creators.

As stated on their website …

“Creative Market is a platform for handcrafted, mousemade design content from independent creatives around the world.”

Creative Market doesn’t just sell WP themes in its marketplace, but you can easily find themes for WordPress and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Landing Page or Popular themes, etc.) from their dropdown “Themes” menu …

Browse through hundreds of great WordPress themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market marketplace here:

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

(click on the above images to view all WP themes at Mojo)

Mojo is a marketplace for premium WordPress themes where theme vendors are strongly encouraged to provide customers with lifetime support and upgrades.

According to their website …

“Mojo is a marketplace where anyone can find, rate and buy quality themes & templates in one trusted place.”

Like Envato and Creative Market, Mojo doesn’t focus exclusively on WordPress themes, but you can easily go through all of their WP themes and narrow your search with theme categories by choosing the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

Visit the site to find great premium themes in the Mojo marketplace here:

• Mojo

Now that we have looked at WordPress theme aggregators, let’s turn our attention to commercial and independent WP theme development firms.

Commercial And Independent Theme Stores

SoloStream

SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of professional quality premium themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.

(click on above images to browse more themes from SoloStream)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes designs stunning premium themes that are very popular and highly sought after by website users and offer a membership option that gives you access to their entire theme collection.

(click on the above images to browse more WooThemes themes)

StoreFront

StoreFront creates gorgeous e-commerce themes for WordPress. StoreFront themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.

(click on the above images to browse more StoreFront themes)

StudioPress

StudioPress provides WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that lets you quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, and provides a self-updating design architecture, turn-key site designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.

Many web developers like the Genesis framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework regularly up-to-date to reflect best coding practices and to make sure that it always remains compatible with the latest WordPress version, but because you can update your themes without losing any customizations you have made to your theme.

This is because StudioPress themes use something called “child themes,” which are like a paint job that sits on top of the framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.

If this all sounds way too technical, don’t worry about it. StudioPress themes are easy to work with, just like all other WordPress themes. The great thing about choosing themes from StudioPress is that one low price entitles you to receive unlimited support and updates, and you can install your themes on unlimited domains.

For more details, click here: StudioPress.

(click on the images above to view all themes from StudioPress)

Theme-Checking Tools

Let’s finish this article with a couple of useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:

What WordPress Theme Is That.com

What WordPress Theme Is That is a free WordPress theme and plugin-checking tool that lets you easily detect what WordPress theme and plugins a website uses (including parent and child WordPress themes).

This is a great resource if you have come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what theme is being used on the site.

Tip: If you don’t know whether a site uses WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that helps you tell whether or not a site uses WordPress: Does My Site Run On WordPress?

Using this tool is very simple. Just enter the site’s domain name into the field and click the search icon or hit “Enter.” The tool will not only confirm whether or not a site has been built on WordPress software, but it will also list the WP theme being used and list any WP plugins it detects.

• To use this online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
• To learn how to use this tool go here: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Blog And WordPress-Checking Tools

Theme Authenticity Checker - WordPress Plugin

We said this earlier and it’s worth repeating it again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the reviewed and approved WordPress themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.

A commonly-used strategy employed by many hacking groups and syndicates that engage in cyber-crime is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and distribute modified themes and plugins with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google for key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to only download free WordPress themes from the official WordPress repository, or use established and trusted theme download sites.

If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your blog could be infected with malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to run a scan of your theme files. The plugin scans the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of suspicious code and then outputs a report …

(TAC Report Page – Screenshot: Plugin)

We hope that you have found this information useful.

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